The Mother of All Dragons

‘So you think you’re off to Peru for an exciting experience – well, we have news for you!’ the dragons have chorused. Their burning poison carried on spurting flames has singed my skin. For the last seven weeks they insistently demanded I listen to their litany of what awful things could beset me. I was so distracted by their voices I couldn’t even begin to sense excitement about my upcoming month long sacred journey through Peru. After all it is an ‘outer journey’ to her finest iconic sites high up in the Andes culminating in a week of fierce heat and a number of ‘inner journeys’ with the sacred plant teacher Ayahauasca in the Amazon jungle.

Bit by bit as I’ve walked myself fitter in limb, breathed myself fresh-air fitter in lung, and got my skin more sun-fit in this exceptional English Spring, my dragons have shrunk. I can still hear them whine a bit but they sound more like mosquitos and I have my bottle of ethical, chemical-free Incognito mossie spray for them!

I’m almost packed. Just a few more things to get, but I have my essentials like a head torch and maglite for when I’m in the jungle at night. I have my all important Shewee and Peebol so I can pee like a man. I have my gel insoles for my ordinary trainers and my Skecher walking shoes for the stony trails. I have all my technology sorted so I can storytell with my camera as well as with my writing.

A few vital things for the woman on her travels

My stomach still does back flips when I think of being in such unknown territory as South America. I can get caught up on the potential discomfort of Peru’s high altitudes and steaming hot jungle, but my imagination is now reaching out to the lands ancient wisdom, the songs she sings through her mountains and valleys, and the call of her sacred teachers in the plant forms of Ayahuasca and San Pedro.

Why were my fears showing up as dragons? Usually my fears form the shape of big cats, but all my blogs on my Peru preparations have had these flaming winged creatures as my challengers. I did a google search on the relevance of dragons to Peru. And there she was….the mother of all dragons…Pachamama!

‘Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. She is also known as the earth/time mother.

[1] In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. She causes earthquakes and is typically in the form of a dragon. She is also an ever present and independent deity who has her own self-sufficient and creative power to sustain life on this earth.’ Wikipedia.

But surely she’s benign so why do you link her with your challenging dragons, you may well ask? I’m not sure she is benign, but then again that doesn’t mean I think she’s the opposite. In my imagination she’s beyond all that. She’s a supremely powerful deity and our labels and judgements are inconsequential to her. As Pachamama using her ‘creative power to sustain life on this earth’ makes her motivated by a deep and passionate love for our ‘home’, this marvellous planet with it’s extraordinarily magical eco-system. Like a mother she will use her fierce love to protect her progeny.

I have no doubt I’ll be challenged in this next phase of my life. I pass the 60 mark in October and see this as a half way mark beyond which lies a whole new realm of experiences. I’d rather be challenged now to extend my creative power expressing the best of myself more fully. All the ‘little’ dragons do is act as counsel for my egoic self, which is trying to do it’s job of keeping me safe. But safety is not a place to feed and nourish deep authentic expression. When we choose to access and birth our creative force it is on the edge. Our bodies may be at risk but it is our hearts above all which are on the line.

What wondrous creative force will emerge with the help of Pachamama and Peru?

If you’d like to follow my outer travels and inner journeys I’ll be flying in to Lima on the 5th May, staying till the 5th June, and plan to post a regular diary.